Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

The other people also nodded. They had been thinking about what gifts to give these past two days and they were almost pulling out all their hair.

Du He raised his eyebrows and said, "Brother Cui, when I took a concubine, you gave me a large piece of jade?"

"Yes!" Cui Shenji nodded.

He then curled his lips and asked, "Brother Du, you didn't open the gift we gave you, did you?"

That was the valuable gift he had carefully prepared, but Du He was so lazy that he didn't even bother to open it and take a look.

It's no wonder that Du He hadn't even unpacked the gifts from the guests yet. Li Yi had them all stored in the warehouse.

Because in Du He's understanding, these gifts for taking a concubine are not valuable things, most of them just represent personal thoughts.

Xiao Kai said slyly, "Brother Cui, our Master Du is a wealthy family, how could he be interested in your broken jade?"

"How about if I take in a tenth concubine, will you also give me a piece of jade?"

"I'm not greedy at all. If you give me a piece of jade the size of an egg, I'll be very satisfied."

The most valuable thing in the Tang Dynasty at present is jade, followed by gold, and then silver.

A jade stone the size of an egg is already priceless, let alone a jade stone the size of a child's fist, whose value cannot be measured by money.

Cui Shenji glanced at Xiao Kai and said, "Brother Xiao, ask your father to accept the magical power!"

"If he gives you another concubine, the number of concubines you have will soon exceed that of the 6th or 8th Duke!"

"Do you want to be the king of the opposite sex?"

Hearing Cui Shenji's teasing, Xiao Kai was so scared that he quickly covered his mouth.

Cui Shenji is the Imperial Censor of the Imperial Court. How dare he say such words in the imperial palace?

Who is not a member of the royal family and is qualified to be appointed as a king of a different surname?

Even the two top ministers, Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling, don’t have such qualifications, right?

Du He also said: "Speak less, too much talk will lead to mistakes."

"It's getting late now, let's go to Duke Lu's mansion."

The Three Musketeers of Chang'an were all outspoken fools. Their nonsense in the crowded and eye-catching Ministry of Works could easily reach Li Shimin's ears.

But Su Dingfang and Xue Rengui were much smarter. They just stood there quietly and listened.

When Du He and a few others arrived at the lobby of the Ministry of Works, the other doctors from the three ministries were already waiting with gifts in hand.

"Meetings, Mr. Du."

"Greetings, General Su, General Xue."

Du He took a look at the gifts in their hands, then waved at them and said.

"Let's go."

The third doctor of the Ministry of Works nodded in response.

"promise."

When Du He and his party walked out of the Ministry of Works, they found Li Chengqian coming from the direction of the East Palace on a sedan chair, with a cart of gifts behind it.

When Li Chengqian's sedan chair arrived at the gate of the Ministry of Works, everyone saluted Li Chengqian with their fists clasped.

"See His Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Chengqian saw Du He, Xue Rengui and a large group of people, so he smiled and waved his hand and said.

"You don't have to be polite."

"I will go to the banquet at Duke Lu's mansion with you. After all, Junmai is from the Eastern Palace, and I cannot be absent on his big day."

Then Li Chengqian turned to look at Du He, nodded at him and said.

"Du He, do you want to go with me on the sedan chair?"

Du He shook his head and said, "Your Highness, it's snowing hard outside now. I'd better take the carriage."

He must be stupid to ride in a sedan chair in the middle of winter, but Li Chengqian had to ride in a sedan chair with space for his feet because his legs were not fully recovered yet.

When Su Dingfang, Cui Shenji and others saw that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince actually invited Du He to ride in the sedan chair with him, their faces were filled with envy.

At this moment, they felt more intuitively in their hearts the position of Du He in the heart of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Then I will leave first, you guys should follow quickly."

As he said this, he waved to Qin Huaidao, and Donggong Qianniu led the guards and walked quickly out of the palace.

After watching Li Chengqian and the others walk forward for a distance, Du He turned around and said.

"Let's go now."

...

Chang'an County.

In Huaidefang near the West Market, passers-by were surprised to find that there were many more carriages of dignitaries today, and they were heading towards the Mansion of Duke Lu.

Many common people and merchants who came from other markets asked the people who opened shops here.

"Boss, why are there so many carriages going to Duke Lu's mansion?"

"Could it be that the son of Duke Lu is going to marry?"

The owner of a local porcelain shop leaned over to take a look at the endless stream of cars on the road ahead, then shook his head and said.

"Today Duke Lu is marrying off his daughter. Since the new son-in-law has no father or mother, the banquet will be held in Duke Lu's mansion."

When they heard that Duke Lu was only marrying off his daughter, these idle people all showed puzzled expressions on their faces.

Is it necessary to make such a big fuss when marrying off a daughter?

Could it be that Duke Lu is recruiting a son-in-law who comes to live with him?

A fat middle-aged businessman wearing a colorful woolen fur coat and with a mole on the corner of his mouth couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

"Manager Zhang, Duke Lu is just marrying off his daughter, so why did he invite so many people to the banquet?"

"Also, I saw many people's carriages were escorted by guards, so I'm afraid the official rank of the guests is not low!"

"What kind of status does Duke Lu's son-in-law have to have the ability to climb up to Duke Lu's high position?"

The questions the middle-aged businessman asked to the porcelain shopkeeper also raised the questions in the minds of the people around him. Everyone turned their eyes to the porcelain shopkeeper.

The person in charge of selling porcelain said softly: "This new son-in-law is quite famous. He is a newly promoted general of the dynasty and a marquis."

"A few days ago, the new son-in-law came to our house with several carts of betrothal gifts. He seems to be a wealthy man."

He also got this information from the servants of Duke Lu's Mansion. As for more detailed information about the new son-in-law, the servants of Duke Lu's Mansion themselves were not clear about it.

Upon hearing that Duke Lu's new son-in-law was of such a high status, the onlookers immediately showed a look of sudden enlightenment on their faces.

How could a man who could become the son-in-law of Duke Lu and have so many officials come to the banquet be a simple person?

Just as they gathered together to chat, suddenly a large army of armored and spear-wielding imperial guards came over and drove them to the side of the road.

"Which royal relative is traveling?"

"There are so many imperial guards escorting us?"

Although the people who were driven aside were dissatisfied, they could only keep all their complaints to themselves as they looked at the sharp spears in front of them.

Not long after, Li Chengqian, Du He and others, who were riding in sedan chairs, quickly passed by a row of shops.

After Li Chengqian's sedan chair went away, the armored and spear-wielding imperial guards quickly followed.

After the onlookers saw clearly the person on the sedan chair, one of them suddenly shouted in surprise.

"The one sitting on the sedan chair is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"A few months ago, when I was offering sacrifices to the Han martyrs in Jinchangfang, I had the honor of meeting His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"